THE Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Magis Eagles took out the running game of the University of the Visayas Baby Lancers as they drew first blood with a clinical 56-51 win in Game 1 of the best-of-3 championship series of the 2014 Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) High School Division Basketball tournament at the Cebu Coliseum last night.
The Magis Eagles dominated the entire game after allowing UV to take control of the first quarter.
“I am happy for this win. I told the boys to expect a tough game, so they should also play tough. But it was their will to win that gave us this victory (tonight). I’m really proud of my boys,” SHS-AdC head coach Rommel Rasmo told Sun.Star Cebu after the game.
Stick to plan
At the dugout before game time, Rasmo’s instruction was to stick to the game plan and their system no matter what happen in the game.
And with the Eagles sticking to their game plans, SHS-AdC was in control of the game and was hitting big shots that made life harder for UV.
“I told them to stick to the system, stick to our game plan. We are all aware that UV’s main weapon is their running game and they are really good at it. So put a plug on their transition game that helped us won their match,” added Rasmo.
With their running game plugged, UV’s shooting also faltered—that even scoring at point blank was as tough as scoring on a fast break.
The last time, UV had the lead was at the 4:15 mark of the second perio when Raul Jancork Cabahug knocked down a triple. Since, it was all an uphill climb for the Baby Lancers.
A back-to-back triple by Jeremy Nacua at the start of the third period enabled SHS-AdC to log its biggest lead of the game at 12 points, 50-37.
However, despite its bad shooting game, UV stayed within the distance.
Uprising
UV had a big uprising after trailing by 13, but the lack of outside shots made them tentative and predictable that worked for the Magis Eagles way.
Jose Piero Longa topscored for the Eagles with 10 points while JC Escalona and Cabahug lead UV scorers with 13 and 11 points respectively.
“It would be tougher in Game 2 but we will prepare the boys for that big game and try to win the championship,” Rasmo concluded the interview.